---
title: Creating PDFs
weight: 2
---

Browsershot will save a pdf if the path passed to the `save` method has a `pdf` extension.

```php
// a pdf will be saved
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')->save('example.pdf');
```

Alternatively you can explicitly use the `savePdf` method:

```php
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')->savePdf('example.pdf');
```

You can also pass some html which will be converted to a pdf.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)->savePdf('example.pdf');
```

If you need the base64 version of a PDF you can use the `base64pdf` method. This can come in handy when you don't want to save the screenshot on disk in environments like Heroku that don't allow you to save a file. You can then proceed to create the file and upload it directly as a base64 string using a package like [Laravel Media Library](https://spatie.be/docs/laravel-medialibrary/v9/api/adding-files#addmediafrombase64).

```php
$base64Data = Browsershot::url('https://example.com')
    ->base64pdf();
```

## A note on security

It is the responsibility of the user to validate the URLs and HTML passed to browsershot. Only pass URLs and HTML that you trust.

## Sizing the pdf

You can specify the width and the height.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->paperSize($width, $height)
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

Optionally you can give a custom unit to the `paperSize` as the third parameter.

## Using a predefined format

You can use the `format` method and provide a format size:

```php
Browsershot::url('https://example.com')->format('A4')->save('example.pdf');
```

The `format` options available by puppeteer are:

```php
Letter: 8.5in  x  11in
Legal: 8.5in  x  14in
Tabloid: 11in  x  17in
Ledger: 17in  x  11in
A0: 33.1in  x  46.8in
A1: 23.4in  x  33.1in
A2: 16.54in  x  23.4in
A3: 11.7in  x  16.54in
A4: 8.27in  x  11.7in
A5: 5.83in  x  8.27in
A6: 4.13in  x  5.83in
```

## Setting margins

Margins can be set.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->margins($top, $right, $bottom, $left)
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

Optionally you can give a custom unit to the `margins` as the fifth parameter.

## Headers and footers

By default a PDF will not show the header and a footer generated by Chrome. Here's how you can make the header and footer appear. You can also provide a custom HTML template for the header and footer.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->showBrowserHeaderAndFooter()
   ->headerHtml($someHtml)
   ->footerHtml($someHtml)
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

In the header and footer HTML, any tags with the following classes will have its printing value injected into its contents.

* `date` formatted print date
* `title` document title
* `url` document location
* `pageNumber` current page number
* `totalPages` total pages in the document

To hide the header or footer, you can call either `hideHeader` or `hideFooter`.

## Backgrounds

By default, the resulting PDF will not show the background of the html page. If you do want the background to be included you can call `showBackground`:

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->showBackground()
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

If you want a transparent background color instead of the default white, you can call `transparentBackground`:

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->transparentBackground()
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

## Tagged (accessible) pdf

Call `taggedPdf` if you want the resulting pdf to be tagged (accessible).

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
    ->taggedPdf()
    ->save('example.pdf');
```

## Landscape orientation

Call `landscape` if you want to resulting pdf to be landscape oriented.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->landscape()
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

## Scale

Scale can be set. Defaults to 1. Scale amount must be between 0.1 and 2.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
    ->scale(0.5)
    ->save('example.pdf');
```

## Only export specific pages

You can control which pages should be export by passing a print range to the `pages` method.  Here are some examples of valid print ranges: `1`, `1-3`,  `1-5, 8, 11-13`.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->pages('1-5, 8, 11-13')
   ->save('example.pdf');
```

## Set the initial page number

You can set the initial page number with `initialPageNumber`. Here's an example that shows how to set the first page to number 8.

```php
Browsershot::html($someHtml)
   ->showBrowserHeaderAndFooter()
   ->hideFooter()
   ->headerHtml('<span class="pageNumber"></span>')
   ->initialPageNumber(8)
   ->save('example.pdf');
```


## Output directly to the browser
You can output the PDF directly to the browser using the `pdf()` method.

```php
$pdf = Browsershot::url('https://example.com')->pdf()
```